Sources for Forecast Soundings

[Bob Hartig]

With a thread underway that compares sources for forecast maps (HazWx vs Twisterdata vs CoD), I thought I'd see who's using what for forecast soundings.

There are four free sources that I'm aware of: Twisterdata, CoD, Earl Barker, and Bufkit. Of these, I find the first two to be the most convenient: just point and click for the sounding you want. Earl Barker's is great but more involved, and Bufkit is purely awesome, but I just don't get how to use it, and the times in the past when I made the attempt, it seemed inordinately time-consuming. So for quick-and-easy soundings, I opt for TD and CoD.

I also purchased RAOB plus several of its modules some years ago. There's nothing else like it--it's like Bufkit on steroids, but it's much easier to use, it processes data from just about any source you can throw at it, and its hodographs are the ultimate. For me, it's kind of like owning an atomic cannon to hunt squirrels with, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So for me: CoD and Twisterdata for fast skew-Ts and RAOB for in-depth soundings.

Who else is using what? Does anyone besides me use RAOB?

 

[JustinPhillips]

COD and Twister just because they are quick and easy, certainly not the most in depth, though CODS is pretty decent

 

[Caleb Grunzke]

I need to learn how to use Bufkit too. I have downloaded and played with it a bit but I still don't know how to pull in data for every radiosonde site.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I like Earl's displays the best. Large graphics, hodograph, and a host of derived parameters (CAPE, STP, etc) listed underneath. Harder to use as you have to know the metar ID of each location, though. I solved this issue by building a bookmarks page to soundings from all 3 models for most Great Plains and Midwest locations:

http://stormhighway.com/data/soundings.php

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Earl Barker's site had a great link to 5km NAM soundings that may or may not still be working. Of course on bigger days I check the special soundings for that "what's it like right now" forecast.

 

[Bob Hartig]

Great work, Dan. That page of yours is definitely worth bookmarking! I agree that Earl's indices are as thorough as a body could hope for.

 

[Brian G]

For forecast soundings I usually use COD and TwisterData because they are fast and easy. Though I will occasionally use the ESRL HTML5 sounding tool. It's the only site I know that provides FIM forecast soundings...ya know...if you're into experimental models

I occasionally use forecast soundings provided by the WRF-ARW core ran by the local WFO-LSX here in St. Louis.

For actual soundings I pretty much only use the SPC website or RAOB. For past data I use the UWYO site.

I only use BufKit in the winter.

And yes, I use RAOB heavily. It's expensive, but really powerful. And it can consume any sounding in any format you throw at it including the TwisterData text!

Now if we only had access to the ACARS/AMDAR soundings...

 

[MClarkson]

I usually use Earls most of the time, but if I want really in depth I'll turn to bufkit.

 

[GPhillips]

I need to learn how to use Bufkit too. I have downloaded and played with it a bit but I still don't know how to pull in data for every radiosonde site.

For Bufkit data, just go to http://www.meteo.psu.edu/bufkit/CONUS_NAM_12.html , click on the model you want with appropriate runtime, then move your cursor over the site you want to download, right-click over that site and choose "Save link as" (in Firefox) and save it in the bufkit data directory.

 

[Caleb Grunzke]

For Bufkit data, just go to http://www.meteo.psu.edu/bufkit/CONUS_NAM_12.html , click on the model you want with appropriate runtime, then move your cursor over the site you want to download, right-click over that site and choose "Save link as" (in Firefox) and save it in the bufkit data directory.

Ah thank you. I'm slow at these types of things.

 

[Greg Higgins]

I've used RAOB for many years. Once you learn how to use it, you won't go back. Plus John is always providing updates and answers questions in a very timely manner.